A Moving Obituary of First Amendment Lawyer Kevin W. Goering

I didn't know the man, but the obituary, written by his daughter, makes me wish I had. There are many nice lines there, but one that struck me was, "He had plenty of fears, but he believed in facing them head on."

That reminds me of one of my favorite lines, from Rebecca West, writing in the Epilogue to Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941); it was about the British after the fall of France, who were of course facing a whole different magnitude of fear, but I think it's more broadly applicable as well:

Let nobody belittle them by pretending they were fearless. Not being as the ox and the ass, they were horribly afraid. But their pale lips did not part to say the words that would have given them security and dishonour.